Medical Abbreviation

1. MEDICAL ABBREVIATION USED
IN CLINICAL SETTING
K.Swapna

2. Presentation outline
• Introduction
• Role of medical abbreviation used in clinical setting
• Pharmacy abbreviation
• Medical abbreviation used in different departments
• Misinterpretation of medical abbreviation
• Conclusion

3. INTRODUCTION
• Medical abbreviation is a shortened form of a medical word or a
phrase . Usually , but not always it consist of a letter or a group of
letters taken from word or a phrase. Always medical abbreviations are
written in capital letters. Abbreviation are formed using the initial
components in a phrase or name
• Ex B – Blood
P - Pressure

4. • ORTHOGRAPHIC STYLING
Periods( stops)
Periods ( stops ) are often used in styling operation , but in
medical abbreviation they are considered as unnecessary or not
required
EX
Less common : C.O.P.D
More common : COPD
 Plurals
The prevelant way to represent plurals for medical acronym is
to simply affix a lower case
• EX : One OCP , two OCPS ( Oral contraceptives

5. Possessives
• Possesive’s form are often needed , but can be formed using
apostrophe +s .Often the writer can recast the sentence
• EX
• BP’s effect on risk of MI is multifaceted
• The effect of BP on MI risk is multifaceted

6. Role of medical abbreviations used in clinical setting
1.In health care centres, abbreviation save clinician time when they are
writing instructions and orders and enable the clinician to see more patients
.
2.Speeds up communication among health care professionals who , its
assumed , know the abbreviation.
3.Most institutions have a list of acceptable abbreviation in their procedure
manuals.
4.Time may be limited due to various deadline and emergency situation
,familiarizing with medical abbreviation will help in interpreting the data
more efficiently.

7. Pharmacy abbreviations
• Pharmacy abbreviation are commonly used as a kind of
shorthand in prescription and medication order to convey
information about direction for use.
• The abbreviation for time and frequency of adminstration come
from latin phrases.
• The commonly used abbreviation include those for route of
adminstration and those that designate unit of measure.
• Another subset of abbreviation is called x substitution and
include the well known and widely used Rϰ symbol meaning
prescription

8. PHARMACY ABBREVIATION
• a : before
• ac : before meals
• Bid : twice a day
• c : with
• Cc : cubic centimeter
• Dx : diagnosis
• Fx : fracture
• G : gram
• Gr : grain
• Hs : at bed time
• Mcg : microgram
• Meq : milliequivalents
• Mg : milligram
• OTC : over the counter
• Oz : ounce
• pc : after meals
• Po : by mouth
• Pr : per rectum
• Prn : as needed

9. COMMONLY USED ABREVIATIOIN
• Scr : Serum creatinine INTHC :Intrathecally
• CBC : Complete blood count WBC : White blood cell
• ICU : Intensive care unit
• IV : Intravenous BID : Twice in a day
• SC : Subcutaneous TID :Thrice in aday IM
: Intramuscular Q : Every
• MCH : Mean corpuscular Q D : Every day
• Haemoglobin Q H : Every hour
• MCHC :Mean corpuscular Q 2H : Every two hour
Haemoglobin concentration QID : Four times in a day
• MCV : Mean corpuscular volume LFT : Liver function test
• Micro : Microcytic, microscopic KUB kidney ,ureter ,bladder

10. Abbreviation used in cardiology
•AF : Atrial fibrillation
• AFl : Atrial flutter
•AI : Aortic insufficiency
•AMI ; Acute myocardial infarction
•AV : Arteriovenous or Atrioventricular
•AVM : Arteriovenous malformation
•AVR A : Aortic valve replacement
•AWMI : Anterior wall myocardial infarction
• BP : Blood pressure
•BPH : Benign prostatic hypertrophy
•BPM : Beats per minute
• DBP ; Diastolic blood pressure

11. ECG : Electrocardiogram
Echo : Echocardiogram
EF : Ejection fraction
ECG : Electrocardiogram
HTN : Hypertension
IHD : Ischemic heart disease
ACS : Acute coronary syndrome
IHD : Ischemic heart disease
JVD :Jugular venous distention
LVH : Left ventricular hypertrophy
LVEDV : Left ventricular end diastolic volume
MAP ; Mean arterial pressure
MI :Myocardial infarction or Mitral Insufficiency
PVD :Peripheral vascular disease
PVR : Peripheral vascular resistance
S : Heart Sounds (e.g. S1, S2, , S3 or S4
VF : Ventricular fibrillation

12. ABBREVIATION USED IN PULMONOLOGY
AIP : Acute interstitial pneumonia
ARDS : Acute respiratory distress syndrome
AM : Alveolar macrophage
BO : Bronchiolitis obliterans
BOOP : Bronchiolitis obliterans organising pneumonia
BAL : Bronchoalveolar lavage
C/P : Cardiopulmonary
CLD : Chronic lung disease
COPD : Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
ERV : Expiratory reserve volume
FEF : Forced exipiratory flow
FEV1 : Forced expiratory volume
VC : Vital capacity
IC : Inspiratory capacity
OSA : Obstructive sleepapnea
PE : Pulmonary edema
PEFR : Peak expiratory flow rate

13. ABBREVATION USED IN NEPHROLOGY
AIN : Acute interstitial nephritis
ARF : Acute renal failure
ACE : Angiotensin converting enzyme
ATN : Acute tubular necrosis
CKD : Chronic kidney disease
CRI : Chronic renal insufficiency
GFR : Glomerular filtration rate
GN : Glomerular nephritis
PKD : Polycystic kidney disease
RAS : Renal artery stenosis
RTA : Renal tubular necrosis
RTC : Renal tubular cell
MCNS : Minimal change nephrotic syndrome
ADPKD: Autosomal dominant Polycystic kidney disease
ARPKD: Autosomal recessive kidney disease
FSGN : Focal segmental glomerulonephritis

14. ABBREVIATOION USED IN NEUROLOGY
ACA - Anterior cerebral artery
ACD - Anti convulsant drug
ANS - Autonomic nervous system
CSF - Cerebrospinal fluid
DA - Dopamine
EEG - Electroencephalogram
AICA - Anterior inferior cerebellar artery
5-HT - Sertonin
ICH - Intra Cranial hemmorhage
ICP - Intra cranial pressure
NMJ - Neuromuscular junction
PET - Positron emission tomography
PICA - Posterior inferior cerebellar artery
PNS - Peripheral nervous system

15. MIISINTERPRETATION OF ABBREVIATION
In 1996 JCAHO (Joint commission on accreditation of
heathcare professional organization) began to gather
information on sentinel events ,defined as unexpected
occurences involving, physical or psychological injury or
risk thereof such as suicide ,wrong site surgery ,and
treatment delay are called sentinels because such
occurrence can be seen as a indicator of quality of care
.One cateogry of errors that stood out to be JCAHO’S
event advisory group was interpretation of commonly used
abbreviation
•

16. JCAHO has listed some abbreviation that can cause ambiguity
1. QD and QOD, the Latin abbreviations for every day and every other
day, respectively. Reports have been made of these abbreviations
being mistaken for QID, which means four times a day. A period
between letters can be mistaken for an i, and patients have received
a drug or other treatment four times a day, instead of once a day or
once every other day, as intended.
• What one should do: write daily or every other day.
2. U, the abbreviation for unit, can be misinterpreted as 0, 4, or cc.
Among other reported errors, a patient received 40 units of insulin
when 4 U was written.
• What one should do: Write unit.
3. IU. The abbreviation for international units has been misinterpreted
as IV (intravenous) and 10. Patients have mistakenly received
intravenous medications as a result.
• What one should do: Write international units

17. 4. MS, MSO4, MgSO4. These abbreviations can indicate either
morphine sulfate or magnesium sulfate. In one case, a patient needing
morphine for pain received an inappropriately high dose of magnesium
sulfate and subsequently died.
• What one should do: Write morphine sulfate or magnesium
sulfate, as appropriate.
5. Zeros (known as trailing zeros and lonely zeros). An order written
for .25 mg of a drug can easily be misread as 25 mg-a 100-fold
overdose. Also, an order written for 25.0 mg may be misread as 250
mg. In both cases, the decimal point may be too small to be visible.
Errors related to the improper use of zeros have caused fatalities.
What one should do (or not do): always use a zero before a lone
decimal point; never write zero only after a decimal point

18. 6 . TIW, which is sometimes used to signify three times a week, has been
misinterpreted as two times a week or three times a day, resulting in misdosing.
• What one should do: write three times weekly or 3 times weekly.
7. AS, AD, and AU, the Latin abbreviations for left ear (auris sinistra), right ear
(auris dexter), and both ears (auris uterque), are frequently mistaken for OS
(oculus sinistra, or left eye), OD (either overdose or optic density), and OU (oculus
uterque, each eye or both eyes), resulting in ear drops being put into patients' eyes.
• What one should do: write left ear, right ear, or both ears, as appropriate.

19. 8 . μg, the abbreviation for micrograms, is often mistaken for mg or milligram,
resulting in 1,000-fold overdoses. Small dosages are common in prescriptions of toxic
antineo-plastic drugs and in the treatment of pediatric patients. Such an overdose
can be fatal
• What one should do: Write mcg
9. HS has been used to signify both half strength and the Latin expression meaning
bedtime (hora somni). And fatal errors have occurred when QHS (every bedtime) was
interpreted as every hour.
• What one should do: write out half strength or at bedtime, as appropriate.
10. SC and SQ can both be used to mean subcutaneous. Reports have been made of
these abbreviations being read as SL (sublingual) and as 5 every hour.
What one should do: write subq or subcutaneous.

20. 11. D/C can mean either discharge or discontinue. Errors have occurred
when drugs were inadvertently discontinued in discharge plans.
• What one should do: write discharge or discontinue, as appropriate.
12. cc, which stands for cubic centimeter, has been misread as U for units.
• What one should do: write mL (for milliliters).

21. CONCLUSION
• Medical abbreviation are useful in clinical setting to save time
,especially in a hospital where many patients get admitted .
• Each hospital should have their own list of abbreviation ,and health
care team should familiarise themselves with all abbreviation in
order to prevent ambiguity
.